My shocks appear to be getting a little soft and wobbly at medium to high speed bends, especially when hitting bumps mid corner.I currently have the Euro OEM spec suspension and dont want to go any lower.I was thinking of re-valving my OEM shocks & struts but the down time is too long.


My driving style is a combination of a daily commuter and very spirited through the mountain swisties on weekends and maybe 1 or 2 track days per year.
My car is a 2004 996 Turbo manual coupe with 120k kilometers or 74k miles.

My question is do I replace the struts and shocks with Bilteins and keep my original springs or go for full coilovers, would there be a vast improvement with coilovers ?

These are my options but need some advise to which way I should go.

Bilstein B8 shocks with my springs, no adjustments .

H&R coilovers
Street - no damper adjustments but have some height adjustment.
Club sport - height adjustable only,these might be too stiff for daily commute but I do like a reasonably firm ride but not jarring.

Bilstein PSS10 coilovers, full damper/rebound adjustment but limited height adjustment.

KW 1 coilovers height adj only.

KW 3 coilovers I believe they are fully adjustable.

Ohlins coilovers - Not sure which variant, I've heard good reviews on these. do I need other bits to work with these?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cheers
Jim

 

What are the roads like in Australia? Smooth and well paved?

 

From your list I've used KW V1, V2, and Ohlins on various cars.

I have the KW V3's on my 996tt. I love the 2 way adjustability. I am able to fine tune the suspension to feel just how I want. I know a lot of people like the Ohlins, and they were definitely great quality, but I hated the single adjustable valve. I could never get a good setup on them. Maybe the valving is different on the 996.

 

Mostly well paved but some roads can be a bit rough.

 

Thanks.
KW V3 sound pretty good, how long have you had them for and do you think they are reliable, durable and good quality?

 

jrz also make high quality coilovers and cheaper than ohlins

 

Which jrz is cheaper than Ohlins R&T?

I know jrz is top notch stuff but I thought they are $$$$.

 

I've had the V3's for two years now and about 4k miles so not a great test of reliability there.

The V1's on my 335i had about 5 years and 45k miles. I took them off last weekend turning the car back to stock to sell. The shocks all still worked great. I will have to say one of the sway bar link brackets broke in the front, though. Amazing how well the car handled even with that broken (although before I realized it was broken I was thinking the car needed more front swaybar).

KW does offer a lifetime warranty to the original purchaser of the coilovers.

 

Here is an update on my suspension order.
I am expecting delivery of my PSS10 Euro spec which I believe are different to the USA ones, they do have different part numbers. I am led to believe they are be a bit firmer, someone please correct me if I wrong, besides some of our roads are pretty bad here.

Lots of locals here including Timcloud in Porsche's cant speak highly enough of them as daily drivers.

On Powdrhounds recommendation I ordered and received 4 x Tarret adjustable drop links with rubber boots, Tarret LCA thrust arm solid bushings and OEM front strut top mounts and bearing plates.
I hope my rear shock top mounts are ok, if not I can get them locally.

I must say that Tarret is 1st class quality not only in their products but also their packaging and service, only 3 days delivered to Australia, now that's amazing. Cant wait to get it all together.

FCP Euro parts the same service with standard freight charges.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/orders/R8634...a1dcf5402ed46d

I want to thank everyone's input, including Mark 02996ttx50 1st hand experience for steering me away from tarret camber plates and a special thanks to Powdrhound (John) for your time and effort with all of this, it is much appreciated and I hope I can return the favor some day.
Cheers
Jim

 

great lookin stuff bud ..and no, i'm not following you around this AM just up before the dawn as per usual lol

gl with the install!!

 

You're quacking me up again Mark, its now 9.25pm here.

 

if you don't mind how about posting the part # for the upper strut mounts. i could probably use a set myself

 

I'd be curious about the top bearings too since I am thinking about new top mounts and bearings.

Is it a one piece unit or are there a couple parts on each side?

 

Porsche Strut Mount Front Left Upper (911) - Genuine Porsche 99634301504

Porsche Strut Mount Front Right Upper (911) - Genuine Porsche 99634301604

 

Bearing plate is separate to mount .
Porsche Strut Mount Bearing Plate (911) - Genuine Porsche 99634350100